John Bolton busy blustering at UN today

Iraqi Ambassador Samir Shakir Sumaidaie said "The political process is moving forward. We will succeed, and we will defeat the terrorists in Iraq and we will build a new country based on the principles of the rule of law, respect for human rights and equality for all.” … after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to let the 178,00 Coalition military force remain in Iraq until end 2006 at the request of the Iraqi Government.

The Security Council can at the request of the Israeli Government ask for a review at any time until then.

The measure requires Iraq to keep depositing the money from its oil sales (in US$ not in Euros as under the Saddam regime) into an international account held in New York and monitored by a UN monitoring board .

The multinational force is also empowered to continue taking and holding its own prisoners in Iraq. There are said to be nearly 14,000 detainees in Iraq, including 5,074 at Abu Ghraib prison.

Ambassador Sumaidaie said "This is part of the operational rules of the multinational force and this is a subject of continued coordination between the Iraqi government and the multinational force," when asked about the issue of U.S.
prisoners. He has a of course a personal interest as his 21 year old cousin Mohammed al-Sumaidaie was killed by US forces near the western town of Haditha on June 25th this year.

"This tragic event is only one example of many. Transitions in countries which have suffered for a long time are generally messy and real human tragedies take place," Sumaidaie said.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton termed the council's unanimous vote, "a vivid demonstration of broad international support for a federal, democratic, pluralist and unified Iraq." He is of course the architect and driver of the US policy to deprive countries of US aid unless they refuse to ratify the protocols of the International Criminal Court having jurisdiction over American Military Forces …

Bolton was busy otherwise as the UN General Assembly voted for the 14th straight year to call for an end to the 43- year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba,``This is a complete exercise in irrelevancy, for a General Assembly that has not yet seriously attempted to reform the UN Human Rights Commission to adopt this exercise in Cuban propaganda really tells you something.''

Israel as expected sided with the US , with those mighty warriors the Marshall Islands and Palau (?) in voting against the non-binding resolution, which urges the U.S. to ``repeal and invalidate'' the embargo that has been in effect since 1962. Micronesia abstained.El Salvador, Iraq, Nicaragua and Morocco didn't vote. The resolution was adopted today by a vote of 182 to 4.

Recent blogs on same topic here